Systems and methods for customizing appearance and behavior of electronic documents based on a multidimensional vector of use patterns

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods for customizing electronic documents based on use patterns are provided. A computer implemented method for customizing an electronic document, comprises automatically monitoring an interaction of a user with the document on an electronic device for reading the document to determine an area of interest of the document, determining the area of interest based on the user interaction, and altering cumulatively at least one of the appearance or behavior of the document on the electronic device at the area of interest, wherein the cumulative alteration is a function of a variable measure of the user interaction over a range.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The field generally relates to systems and methods for customizing anelectronic document, and in particular, to systems and methods forenhancing electronic book (e-book) and smart phone readers by theautomatic creation of visual use marks and simulated page-flip delaysand detents, which enable users to find and remember content indocuments such as e-books.

BACKGROUND

An electronic book (e-book) is a book-length publication in digitalform, comprising text, images, or both. An e-book may be produced on,published through, and readable on computers and other electronicdevices. For example, e-books may be read on dedicated hardware devicesknown as e-readers or e-book devices, on personal computers, tabletcomputers and mobile phones. E-books can originate in digital form,i.e., have their initial incarnations in electronic form. In such cases,e-books may exist without any printed equivalent.

People who are accustomed to using traditional books often find andremember content in documents in an intuitive manner, for example, byrecalling various visual aspects of a page, even including the degree ofpage use by dirt on a page, or by flipping through books and findingcontent. The speed of manual flipping of pages in an actual book candepend on certain factors, for example, use of the book, and thecondition of pages and book spines. Delays in page flipping caused byone or more of these factors can help a user find content. Presently, noknown methods exist to help individuals perform equivalent actions ine-books, whether the content resides on dedicated readers, smart phones,tablets, or other such devices.

Current technology allows users of e-book readers or other devices onwhich e-books can be read, to manually create simple bookmarks, whichallow users to “jump” to sections of e-books. Additional known methodspermit manually highlighting lines of text and annotating e-books, forexample, by using a stylus.

SUMMARY

In general, exemplary embodiments of the invention include systems andmethods for customizing an electronic document, and in particular, tosystems and methods for enhancing electronic book (e-book) and smartphone readers by the automatic creation of visual use marks andsimulated page-flip delays and detents, which enable users to find andremember content in documents such as e-books.

According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a systemfor customizing an electronic document including a memory and aprocessor communicatively coupled to the processor, comprises a trackingmodule capable of automatically monitoring an interaction of a user withthe document on an electronic device for reading the document, whereinthe tracking module determines an area of interest of the document basedon the user interaction, and a display module capable of alteringcumulatively at least one of the appearance or behavior of the documenton the electronic device at the area of interest, wherein the cumulativealteration is a function of a variable measure of the user interactionover a range.

According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, acomputer implemented method for customizing an electronic document,comprises automatically monitoring an interaction of a user with thedocument on an electronic device for reading the document to determinean area of interest of the document, determining the area of interestbased on the user interaction, and altering cumulatively at least one ofthe appearance or behavior of the document on the electronic device atthe area of interest, wherein the cumulative alteration is a function ofa variable measure of the user interaction over a range.

According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, anarticle of manufacture comprises a non-transitory computer readablestorage medium comprising program code tangibly embodied thereon, whichwhen executed by a computer, performs method steps for customizing anelectronic document, the method steps comprising automaticallymonitoring an interaction of a user with the document on an electronicdevice for reading the document to determine an area of interest of thedocument, determining the area of interest based on the userinteraction, and altering cumulatively at least one of the appearance orbehavior of the document on the electronic device at the area ofinterest, wherein the cumulative alteration is a function of a variablemeasure of the user interaction over a range.

According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, anapparatus for customizing an electronic document, comprises a memory,and a processor coupled to the memory and configured to execute codestored in the memory for automatically monitoring an interaction of auser with the document on an electronic device for reading the documentto determine an area of interest of the document, determining the areaof interest based on the user interaction, and altering cumulatively atleast one of the appearance or behavior of the document on theelectronic device at the area of interest, wherein the cumulativealteration is a function of a variable measure of the user interactionover a range.

These and other exemplary embodiments of the invention will be describedor become apparent from the following detailed description of exemplaryembodiments, which is to be read in connection with the accompanyingdrawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described belowin more detail, with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which:

FIG. 1 illustrates an e-book reader used for viewing electronicdocuments, such as e-books, according to an embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 2 illustrates a system for customizing an electronic document,according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 illustrates a method for customizing an electronic document,according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 illustrates a method for customizing an electronic document,according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 illustrates a computer system in accordance with which one ormore components/steps of the techniques of the invention may beimplemented, according to an embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

Exemplary embodiments of the invention will now be discussed in furtherdetail with regard to systems and methods for customizing an electronicdocument, and in particular, to systems and methods for enhancingelectronic book (e-book) and smart phone readers by the automaticcreation of visual use marks and simulated page-flip delays and detents,which enable users to find and remember content in documents such ase-books. This invention may, however, be embodied in many differentforms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments setforth herein.

According to embodiments of the present invention, the followingdefinitions may apply to the following terms used in this disclosure:

“Pages”: partitioned segments of a multimedia document, displayedsequentially within a frame, such as pages of an electronic book.

“e-book”, “digital book”, “electronic book”: a multimedia documentcomprising pages displayed electronically, often simulating some aspectsof the experience of reading a physical book, magazine or some otherbound volume.

“e-book reader”, “e-reader”: a device used to display and navigate ane-book, digital book, or electronic book.

“turn” or “flip”: traverse pages of an e-book, digital book, orelectronic book

“rapid page turn”, “rapid page flip”: to traverse pages of an e-book,digital book, or electronic book at a rate faster than a readertypically reads pages. This mode of turning pages can still allow someinformation to be gathered by the reader.

“timing of page turn”, “timing of page flip”: the time a page ispresented to a user during rapid page turn, page flip.

“automatic page turn”, “automatic page flip”, “multiple page turn”,“multiple page flip”: traverse pages in groups such that uncertaintyexists about which page will be displayed when traversal is complete.

“reading an e-book”: the traversal and consumption of media from thepages of an e-book, digital book, or electronic book.

Embodiments of the present invention provide a system and method toenable individuals to find and/or cognitively recall favorite,important, and/or often-used sections and pages within an e-book, orother electronic document, such as, for example, an electronic magazine(e-zine), catalog (e-catalog), etc., that can be read on an electronicdevice. The electronic device, can include, but is not limited to, adedicated hardware device known as an e-reader, or e-book device, orpersonal computers, tablet computers and mobile phones, such as smartphones.

Embodiments of the present invention automatically visually augmentcertain pages and cognitively assist in page location and recall throughthe insertion of delays (e.g., millisecond delays) and visual markersthat can be sensed by a user when moving through an electronic document,such as an e-book. The visual markers can provide enhanced cognitiverecognition, and in accordance with an, embodiment of the presentinvention, may be automatically computed and inserted. Delays, forexample, millisecond delays, in the flipping of pages while rapidlymoving through an e-book can enable the user to locate favorite pagesand sections. In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention,such delays and detents may be automatically computed and inserted.

Referring to FIG. 1, an e-book reader 102 or other electronic deviceused for viewing electronic documents, such as e-books, is shown.According to an embodiment, the e-book reader 102 includes a button 110that the user may depress and hold to initiate sequential page flipping.Alternatively, a user may turn a dial or rocker 120 embedded in thedevice to flip pages. The rocker 120 can include a restorative springmechanism, such that an angle of deflection of the dial or rocker andthe rapidity and force of deflection are provided as inputs to thedevice to indicate speed of page flipping. For example, the dial orrocker 120 can be used to simulate a forceful turning of pages so thatmultiple pages can be turned at once. The dial or rocker can be used toinitiate other behaviors, such as, for example, zooming and/orhighlighting/annotating of text. In another alternative, the e-bookreader 102 includes a screen 130 that is a touchscreen responsive topressure and movement from the fingers of a user to flip pages, whereina faster rate of hand or finger movement by the user results in fasteror multiple page flipping, and wherein certain movements or pressures offingers on the screen can result in zooming or highlighting/annotatingof text.

Referring to FIG. 2, a system 200 for customizing an electronicdocument, according to an embodiment of the present invention, includesan e-book reader 102 or other electronic device that can be used forviewing the electronic documents. The system further includes auser-behavior tracking module (UBTM) 210, which records and monitorsuser interactions with the e-book to determine areas of interest in thee-book, and a page-behavior module (PBM) 212, which determinesappropriate page behavior parameters for each page (e.g., delays orprobabilities of appearance after multiple page turns) based oninformation recorded by the UBTM 210. A display module 214 implementsthe calculated behaviors determined by the PBM 212, to present pagesbased on calculated timing of page turns, and on probabilities of pagesappearing after automatic multiple page turns. The display module 214includes a marking engine 218 electronically coupled thereto, whichgraphically marks certain pages of the electronic document based on useinformation recorded by the UBTM 210, so that the pages deemed to be ofinterest contain elements of differentiation. The information recordedby the UBTM 210 can be stored in a database 216. The system may furtherinclude a settings module 220, which inputs settings, such aspre-defined user settings, to the display module, including the markingengine, regarding settings for delays, detents and/or graphical markingsthat have been pre-defined by a user, author, manufacturer, etc.

According to an embodiment, the components 210, 212, 214, 216, 218 and220 of the system can be included in an e-reader 102 or other device forreading the electronic documents. Alternatively, the components 210,212, 214, 216, 218 and 220 can be located in some remote facility, forexample, a cloud computing facility or service facility communicativelycoupled to the e-book reader 102.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the marking engine218 or other module graphically marks certain pages of the electronicdocument so that they contain elements of differentiation. Theseelements may include, but are not limited to, electronic representationsof dirt, smudges, stains, hairs, rips, folds, coffee spills, cup rings,dust, browning on edges, and/or other such use indicators. Such markingcan make an electronic document, such as an e-book, customized andappear more like a physical book or publication. The markings can alsoserve as a cognitive enhancement, enabling users to more easily rememberwhere information may lie in the document.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the graphicalmarking is performed automatically by a module, such as marking engine218 based on, for example, randomness, algorithms, user preferences,author preferences, publisher preferences, controlled elements,thresholds, and/or tracking or monitoring of use by a primary reader ormany readers recorded by the UBTM 210. Algorithms, user preferences,author preferences, publisher preferences, controlled elements, and/orthresholds can be programmed via and stored in the settings module 220,which is electronically coupled to the marking engine 218. According toembodiments of the present invention, the marking or simulated visualdegradation can evolve with, for example, how many times a user turns apage, eye tracking to determine what or where a user is reading, using,for example, biometric sensors, mouse tracking, and/or other suchenvironmental factors which can be tracked by the UBTM 210. According toan embodiment, in the area of education, the marking or simulated visualdegradation may serve as a cognitive aid in an electronic learning(e-learning), online education, and/or electronic textbook (e-textbook)domain, allowing learners (e.g., students) to more intuitively recognizematerial they have studied. In addition, implementation of theembodiments of the present invention can lead to people purchasing orusing e-books who do not ordinarily like the non-physical features ofe-books.

According to embodiments of the present invention, usage marks, such as,for example, smudges, which can be in the spirit of PHOTOSHOP filters,can be pre-programmed to accumulate based on use, and/or can beuser-defined via the settings module 220. As an electronic document ore-book is used, and such use is recorded by the UBTM 210, a build-up ofuse print can be simulated via display module 214 and marking engine218. As a result, a user can remember what is most read by suchinteractive traces. For example, the display module 214, including themarking engine 218 can alter cumulatively the appearance of the documentby adding the usage indicators, which accumulate based on use. Accordingto an embodiment, the cumulative alteration is a function of a variablemeasure of a user's interaction with the document over a range, therange being, for example, a number of times a user turns and/or turns toa page, a time period that a user spends at a page, a number of times apage was viewed by the particular reader or other readers, a number ofannotations a particular reader or others have placed on the page and/oran amount of zooming and/or re-reading that has been performed on apage. According to an embodiment, cumulative changes in appearance canbe weighted by a variable x: 0.0>x>1.0 and accumulate based on thisvariable measure of usage and interest. In the case of appearance, dirt,smudges, browning and/or stains, for example, accumulate stepwise as xgrows from 0 to 1.

In accordance with an embodiment, the markings and/or delays can betailored to multiple people reading the same book. For example, a systemcan learn via recording by the UBTM 210 and/or be programmed to addmarkings or delays via the settings module 220 according to each user'scognitive style and/or use history. The document or e-book, when openedfor a particular user or group of users, can have different markingsand/or delays than when opened for another user or group of users. Also,in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the PBM 212can map aggregate behavior for more than one individual to a singlebook. Other readers may, for example, be in a user's social network, orother users who have bought and read the book. The nature of thedifferentiation elements can be persistent across the differentelectronic devices used for viewing the electronic documents or left ona primary device, and not conveyed when moving the digitalrepresentation to new devices.

In accordance with embodiments of the present invention, delaysassociated with simulated book page flipping on an e-book reader orother electronic devices that can be used for viewing the electronicdocuments can be automatically introduced by computing a page delay timebased on one or more of: (1) the amount of time a reader and/or otherreaders have spent on the page; (2) the number of times a page wasviewed by the particular reader or other readers; (3) the number ofannotations the particular reader or others have placed on the page;and/or (4) the amount of zooming and/or re-reading that has beenperformed on a page. It is to be understood that this is not anexhaustive list, and other factors may be used to compute delay factors.In accordance with embodiments of the present invention, the featuresfor computing delay factors can be recorded by the UBTM 210, computationcan be performed by the PBM 212, and implementation of delay factors canbe performed by the display module 214.

According to embodiments of the present invention, a delay factor caninclude one or more of: (1) a time delay (e.g., quarter-second); (2)detent; and (3) a sound to accompany the page delay. In physical terms,a “detent” can refer to a method or device used to mechanically resistor stop rotation of a component, such as a wheel, axle or spindle orother related moving element, and has been used to divide a rotation ormovement into discrete increments. For example, detents can beresponsible for the “clicking” and tactile feel when rotating certaindials. In the case of embodiments of the present invention, a detentrelates to a vibrational component corresponding to certain locations inan e-book or other electronic document in order to give a user tactilefeedback while “flipping” through pages via, for example, a finger orhand motion on a touchscreen of the device on which the electronicdocument is presented.

According to embodiments of the present invention, the detents (e.g.,detent intensity) can vary as a function of the various conditionsdescribed herein such as, for example, the amount of time a readerand/or other readers have spent on the page, the number of times a pagewas viewed by the particular reader or other readers, the number ofannotations the particular reader or others have placed on the page,and/or the amount of zooming and/or re-reading that has been performedon a page.

Additionally, like the delays, graphical indicators of use appliedacross a page can automatically be added to pages of an electronicdocument, by computing a page usage factor based on one or more of: (1)the amount of time a reader and/or other readers have spent on the page;(2) the number of times a page was viewed by the particular reader orother readers; (3) the number of annotations the particular reader orothers have placed on the page; (4) the amount of zooming and/orre-reading that has been performed on a page. It is to be understoodthat this is not an exhaustive list, and other factors may be used tocompute usage. In accordance with embodiments of the present invention,the features for computing usage can be recorded by the UBTM 210,computation can be performed by the PBM 212, and implementation intographical indicators can be performed by the display module 214 andmarking engine 218.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, a page orpages of an electronic document can be designated as areas of interestif a user, for example: spends more time on a page(s) or visits apage(s) more often than others, has electronically annotated thepage(s), and/or implemented a zoom gesture on the page(s). It is to beunderstood that the preceding are exemplary in nature and are notintended to limit the types of activity that may indicate interest in anarea of the document.

According to an embodiment, a drawn spine of a book is visuallyaugmented to indicate more use than other pages, imitating a book thatis laid open for a long period of time on a particular page. The imageof the book at the particular page shows the text as shifted fartheraway from the spine than on other pages that have been used less thanthe particular page to indicate the tendency of the book to stay open atthe particular page. The appearance of the shifted text can enhancecognitive recognition by the user. According to an embodiment, thevisual marking may be extended to an image of the outside spine of thebook to show creases at or near areas of interest. For example, theoutside of books can be rendered on a reader in three dimensions duringselection, showing a bookshelf on which the books are placed. In thisrendering, the outside of the spine(s) can be marked with creases toindicate the areas of the most interest. As a result, a user can selecta book off a virtual shelf, have an indication of what general locationin which the areas of interest reside, and fine tune the page movementto sections that contain the areas of interest. Any combination of thePBM 212, display module 214 and/or marking engine 218, based on inputfrom the UBTM 210 and/or settings module 220, can be used to implementthe referenced features in connection with the spine.

According to an embodiment, pauses, for example, measured in some numberof milliseconds, are inserted between pages to appear during pageturning in an e-book to assist users in locating sections of interest.For example, during rapid page turning, when the system updates a pagedisplay, the system will insert a small pause at a previously marked ornoted area of interest before moving on to the next page. This momentarypause will be long enough such that the user can recognize the page atthe area of interest and stop the page movement, or revert to the lastrendered area of interest. In another embodiment, when flipping stops,the e-book or other type of electronic document may open to the nextavailable page that has the most use to simulate a situation where aphysical book may be prone to open to a highly read or often used page.Any combination of the PBM 212 and/or display module 214, based on inputfrom the UBTM 210 and/or settings module 220, can be used to implementthe referenced features in connection with pauses.

Like with the appearance of the document, the display module 214 canalter cumulatively the behavior of the document by adding elements whichaccumulate based on use, for example, pauses, detents, and/or anincrease in the probability of landing on a page after multiple pageflips. According to an embodiment, the cumulative alteration is afunction of a variable measure of a user's interaction with the documentover a range, the range being, for example, a number of times a userturns and/or turns to a page, a time period that a user spends at apage, a number of times a page was viewed by the particular reader orother readers, a number of annotations a particular reader or othershave placed on the page and/or an amount of zooming and/or re-readingthat has been performed on a page. According to an embodiment,cumulative changes in behavior can be weighted by a variable x:0.0>x>1.0 and accumulate based on this variable measure of usage andinterest. In the case of behavior, pauses, detents, and/or an increasein the probability of landing on a page after multiple page flips, forexample, accumulate stepwise as x grows from 0 to 1.

Referring to FIG. 3, in a method for customizing an electronic document,according to an embodiment of the present invention, a user interactswith an e-book reader 102 (or related document viewer) by performing oneor more actions to indicate an area(s) of interest. For example, over apredetermined time interval, or over a predetermined number of uses,demarcated by the user closing the e-book and/or turning off the e-bookreader, a user may, for example, leave an e-book open on a first pagefor 30 seconds, on a second page for 100 seconds, and not spend any timeon a third page. The user may also magnify a portion of and highlightseveral sentences on the second page.

At block 302, the system monitors user interaction with the e-reader 102or other device used for reading electronic documents. If the user doesnot perform any actions to indicate areas of interest at block 304, thesystem, for example, the UBTM 210, continues to monitor and the methodreturns to block 302. If the user performs actions to indicate areas ofinterest at block 304, the UBTM 210 records the user actions (block 306)and stores the information in the database 216 (block 308). A record ofthe information stored in the database 216 may include information suchas D(p,d,m,h)=(20, 100, 3, 30), where D represents a multidimensionalvector, p is the page number, d is the amount of time that the page wasdisplayed, m is the number of times the page was magnified, and h is thenumber of words that were highlighted on the page. Accordingly, forexample, (20, 100, 3, 30) indicates that page 20 was displayed for aperiod of 100 seconds, magnified three times, and had 30 wordshighlighted. According to an embodiment, the 100 seconds refers to 100seconds while the user was actually touching the device, for example,holding the device, so as to avoid accumulating durations in which thedevice is left unattended and open to a page, and the user is notinteracting with the material. The fact that a user is interacting witha device can be determined by various means, including pressure sensors,or other biometric sensors coupled to the device. A measure of userinteraction with a device may be a moving average over a set timeinterval or number of uses. Measures of interaction may be recorded andcalculated by components of a system, for example system 200, on thee-book reader itself, or in some remote facility, for example, a cloudcomputing facility or service communicatively coupled to the e-bookreader.

In a further step at block 310, the PBM 212 mathematically maps theinformation contained in multidimensional vector D to actual behavior ofthe pages to be displayed on screen 130. The mapping may be calculatedby components of a system, such as system 200, on the e-book readeritself, or in some remote facility, for example, a cloud computingfacility or service communicatively coupled to the e-book reader.

At block 312, based on settings and the user interaction with particularregions, pages or groups of pages, graphical indicators are applied topage(s) of interest. In addition, based on settings and the userinteraction with particular regions, pages or groups of pages, themapping can lead to the calculation of probabilities that pages willappear after multiple page flipping (block 314) and/or creation of adistribution of page delays to be implemented when flipping throughe-book (block 316). The changes to the page(s) are implemented inconnection with a user flipping through and/or viewing the page(s)(block 318), and the system can continue to monitor further userinteraction with the e-reader.

In accordance with an embodiment, in connection with block 316,B(p)=|D(p,d,m,h)|*N provides a mapping, where B(p) is a sub-second delayfor page p (e.g., 30 milliseconds (but not limited thereto)), and N isan adjustable scale factor. The behavior may be altered such that thelarger the deflection of the dial or rocker 120, or a functionallyequivalent action on another mechanism for increasing the rate offlipping pages, the more rapid the rate of page flipping, while the timespent on any page during page flipping is an inverse proportion of therate of flipping.

If a flipping rate is 50 pages per second, the average time per page is20 milliseconds, and the PBM 212 can create a distribution of actualpage delays with a standard deviation of ±5 milliseconds. The PBM 212may also directly map information from D to the probability that aparticular page will appear after automatic multiple page flipping(block 314). Fast, forceful deflections of the dial or rocker, or afunctionally equivalent action on another mechanism for increasing therate of flipping pages, may provide the input to the device resulting inmultiple page turns. For example, such a forceful gesture by a user on adial, rocker or touchscreen can result in simultaneously turning severalpages, like grabbing multiple pages in a physical book, to advance tosubsequent pages. Based on the use data gathered by the UBTM 210 frommonitoring users to determine areas of interest, a next page displayedor landed on after multiple page turns can be a highly used/visited pagethat has been deemed an area of interest. Depending on settings, theforce of the gesture and/or level of use of a page, the reader or deviceon which the document is read can stop or slow down at the pagedesignated as an area of interest after multiple page turns are made.Pages are rendered in a distorted form as they are flipped, for example,by shearing, pinching, blurring, or otherwise altering the text.

Parameterized physical models may be used to mathematically map theinformation contained in multidimensional vector D to actual behavior ofthe pages to be displayed on screen 130, such as the model discussed inconnection with FIG. 4 herein, in which the delays and probabilities foreach page are a function of neighboring pages, as in a system of coupledsprings.

A method for customizing an electronic document, according to anembodiment of the present invention makes use of a physical analogy of asystem of virtual elastic springs modeled as a set of couplings betweenvirtual components of an electronic document (such as, for example,pages, regions of pages, and words of an e-book). According to themodel, pages, regions and/or words are coupled to each other via virtualsprings between the components and to a rigid framework via virtualsprings between predetermined components (e.g., end pages) and the rigidframework. The elastic coefficients of the couplings of this system areadjusted based on user interaction with the e-book, which are referencedby the model when a user flips pages or examines a page, to determineprobabilities of a page or region appearing, and a time interval overwhich a device used for e-reading displays the page or region.

Referring to FIG. 4, the method for customizing an electronic document,according to an embodiment of the present invention, includes storingelastic coefficients for linkages between every page to a level ofgranularity determined by an amount of memory available to model thee-book as a system of springs (block 404). According to an embodiment,elastic coefficients between parts of a page can also be stored. Allcoefficients are set to the same initial value (block 402) so that whena user first flips through the e-book, all pages and page regions pausewith equal probability and identical time intervals, as determined bythe physical model of the traversal of spring-coupled masses.

Like the method described in connection with FIG. 3, the system monitorsuser interaction with the e-reader 102 or other device used for readingelectronic documents (block 406). If the user does not perform anyactions to indicate areas of interest at block 408, the system, forexample, the UBTM 210, continues to monitor and returns to block 406. Ifthe user performs actions to indicate areas of interest at block 408,the UBTM 210 records the user actions. For example, when a user pauseson a page, zooms to a particular region for reading, or performs anyother action through which the page or particular region will be deemedan area of interest, the spring coefficients coupling the page or regionwhich is the area of interest to other pages, and the page to the rigidframework upon which the system rests, are increased (block 410) andstored (block 412). The increases are proportional to, for example, theamount of time the user spends reading the page or region, the number oftimes the page or region was viewed by the user, the number ofannotations placed on the page or region, and/or the amount of zoomingand/or re-reading that has been performed on the page or region. When auser flips through the e-book a second or subsequent times, pages andregions that have been perused recently pause with greater probabilityand longer time intervals, as determined by a model of the traversal ofspring-coupled masses using the newly modified elastic coefficients(block 414), and the system can continue to monitor further userinteraction with the e-reader.

According to an embodiment, elastic coefficients can decay back to theirinitial values over a predetermined time period chosen by, for example,the user, the manufacturer of the e-book reading device, or thepublisher of the e-book. According to an embodiment, the spring systemcan be modeled using Hooke's Law:F=kx  (1),

where F is the force determining how likely a page or region appears, kis the elastic coefficient, and x is the current “displacement” of thepage or region from a rest point of the page or region, due to a userflipping pages and/or examining regions and due to interaction fromother pages or regions.

Embodiments of the present invention can also be applied to situationswhere advertisers in an electronic publication, such as, for example, ane-zine, wish to pay publishers to introduce delays in pages so that whena user is leafing through the e-zine, the pages with advertisements havedelays (e.g., sub-second delays) so as to catch a user's attention. Inaddition, according to embodiments of the present invention, usepatterns of certain users may be packaged or otherwise distributed toother e-book readers or devices to allow users to learn how others haveread the same book, and utilize the use patterns of others. According toembodiments, the use patterns may come from individuals in similarfields or members of the same social network as the recipient. The usepatterns of others can be stored in predetermined profiles, and can beapplied to the e-books of recipients at their option. Further, usepatterns derived from a user's interaction with an e-book can betranslated into other media, such as, for example, study guides, tests,or other educational material. The use patterns may also be mapped ontoa different book containing similar content.

As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, aspects of the presentinvention may be embodied as a system, apparatus, method, or computerprogram product. Accordingly, aspects of the present invention may takethe form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely softwareembodiment (including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.) oran embodiment combining software and hardware aspects that may allgenerally be referred to herein as a “circuit,” “module” or “system.”Furthermore, aspects of the present invention may take the form of acomputer program product embodied in one or more computer readablemedium(s) having computer readable program code embodied thereon.

Any combination of one or more computer readable medium(s) may beutilized. The computer readable medium may be a computer readablestorage medium. A computer readable storage medium may be, for example,but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic,infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitablecombination of the foregoing. More specific examples (a non-exhaustivelist) of the computer readable storage medium would include thefollowing: an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portablecomputer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), aread-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROMor Flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-onlymemory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device,or any suitable combination of the foregoing. In the context of thisdocument, a computer readable storage medium may be any tangible mediumthat can contain, or store a program for use by or in connection with aninstruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

Program code embodied on a computer readable medium may be transmittedusing any appropriate medium, including but not limited to wireless,wireline, optical fiber cable, RF, etc., or any suitable combination ofthe foregoing.

Computer program code for carrying out operations for aspects of thepresent invention may be written in any combination of one or moreprogramming languages, including an object oriented programming languagesuch as Java, Smalltalk, C++ or the like and conventional proceduralprogramming languages, such as the “C” programming language or similarprogramming languages. The program code may execute entirely on theuser's computer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alonesoftware package, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remotecomputer or entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latterscenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user's computerthrough any type of network, including a local area network (LAN) or awide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to an externalcomputer (for example, through the Internet using an Internet ServiceProvider).

Aspects of the present invention are described herein with reference toflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus(systems) and computer program products according to embodiments of theinvention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in theflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented bycomputer program instructions. These computer program instructions maybe provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, specialpurpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus toproduce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via theprocessor of the computer or other programmable data processingapparatus, create means for implementing the functions/acts specified inthe flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computerreadable medium that can direct a computer, other programmable dataprocessing apparatus, or other devices to function in a particularmanner, such that the instructions stored in the computer readablemedium produce an article of manufacture including instructions whichimplement the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks.

The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer,other programmable data processing apparatus, or other devices to causea series of operational steps to be performed on the computer, otherprogrammable apparatus or other devices to produce a computerimplemented process such that the instructions which execute on thecomputer or other programmable apparatus provide processes forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks.

FIGS. 1-4 illustrate the architecture, functionality, and operation ofpossible implementations of systems, methods, and computer programproducts according to various embodiments of the present invention. Inthis regard, each block in a flowchart or a block diagram may representa module, segment, or portion of code, which comprises one or moreexecutable instructions for implementing the specified logicalfunction(s). It should also be noted that, in some alternativeimplementations, the functions noted in the block may occur out of theorder noted in the figures. For example, two blocks shown in successionmay, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks maysometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon thefunctionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of theblock diagram and/or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocksin the block diagram and/or flowchart illustration, can be implementedby special purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specifiedfunctions or acts, or combinations of special purpose hardware andcomputer instructions.

One or more embodiments can make use of software running on ageneral-purpose computer or workstation. With reference to FIG. 5, in acomputing node 510 there is a computer system/server 512, which isoperational with numerous other general purpose or special purposecomputing system environments or configurations. Examples of well-knowncomputing systems, environments, and/or configurations that may besuitable for use with computer system/server 512 include, but are notlimited to, personal computer systems, server computer systems, thinclients, thick clients, handheld or laptop devices, multiprocessorsystems, microprocessor-based systems, set top boxes, programmableconsumer electronics, network PCs, minicomputer systems, mainframecomputer systems, and distributed cloud computing environments thatinclude any of the above systems or devices, and the like.

Computer system/server 512 may be described in the general context ofcomputer system executable instructions, such as program modules, beingexecuted by a computer system. Generally, program modules may includeroutines, programs, objects, components, logic, data structures, and soon that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract datatypes. Computer system/server 512 may be practiced in distributed cloudcomputing environments where tasks are performed by remote processingdevices that are linked through a communications network. In adistributed cloud computing environment, program modules may be locatedin both local and remote computer system storage media including memorystorage devices.

As shown in FIG. 5, computer system/server 512 in computing node 510 isshown in the form of a general-purpose computing device. The componentsof computer system/server 512 may include, but are not limited to, oneor more processors or processing units 516, a system memory 528, and abus 518 that couples various system components including system memory528 to processor 516.

The bus 518 represents one or more of any of several types of busstructures, including a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheralbus, an accelerated graphics port, and a processor or local bus usingany of a variety of bus architectures. By way of example, and notlimitation, such architectures include Industry Standard Architecture(ISA) bus, Micro Channel Architecture (MCA) bus, Enhanced ISA (EISA)bus, Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) local bus, andPeripheral Component Interconnects (PCI) bus.

The computer system/server 512 typically includes a variety of computersystem readable media. Such media may be any available media that isaccessible by computer system/server 512, and it includes both volatileand non-volatile media, removable and non-removable media.

The system memory 528 can include computer system readable media in theform of volatile memory, such as random access memory (RAM) 530 and/orcache memory 532. The computer system/server 512 may further includeother removable/non-removable, volatile/nonvolatile computer systemstorage media. By way of example only, storage system 34 can be providedfor reading from and writing to a non-removable, non-volatile magneticmedia (not shown and typically called a “hard drive”). Although notshown, a magnetic disk drive for reading from and writing to aremovable, non-volatile magnetic disk (e.g., a “floppy disk”), and anoptical disk drive for reading from or writing to a removable,non-volatile optical disk such as a CD-ROM, DVD-ROM or other opticalmedia can be provided. In such instances, each can be connected to thebus 518 by one or more data media interfaces. As depicted and describedherein, the memory 528 may include at least one program product having aset (e.g., at least one) of program modules that are configured to carryout the functions of embodiments of the invention. A program/utility540, having a set (at least one) of program modules 542, may be storedin memory 528 by way of example, and not limitation, as well as anoperating system, one or more application programs, other programmodules, and program data. Each of the operating system, one or moreapplication programs, other program modules, and program data or somecombination thereof, may include an implementation of a networkingenvironment. Program modules 542 generally carry out the functionsand/or methodologies of embodiments of the invention as describedherein.

Computer system/server 512 may also communicate with one or moreexternal devices 514 such as a keyboard, a pointing device, a display524, etc., one or more devices that enable a user to interact withcomputer system/server 512, and/or any devices (e.g., network card,modem, etc.) that enable computer system/server 512 to communicate withone or more other computing devices. Such communication can occur viaInput/Output (I/O) interfaces 522. Still yet, computer system/server 512can communicate with one or more networks such as a local area network(LAN), a general wide area network (WAN), and/or a public network (e.g.,the Internet) via network adapter 520. As depicted, network adapter 520communicates with the other components of computer system/server 512 viabus 518. It should be understood that although not shown, other hardwareand/or software components could be used in conjunction with computersystem/server 512. Examples, include, but are not limited to: microcode,device drivers, redundant processing units, external disk drive arrays,RAID systems, tape drives, and data archival storage systems, etc.

Although illustrative embodiments of the present invention have beendescribed herein with reference to the accompanying drawings, it is tobe understood that the invention is not limited to those preciseembodiments, and that various other changes and modifications may bemade by one skilled in the art without departing from the scope orspirit of the invention.

We claim:
 1. A computer implemented method for customizing an electronicdocument, the method comprising: automatically monitoring an interactionof a user with the document on an electronic device for reading thedocument to determine an area of interest of the document; determiningthe area of interest based on the user interaction; alteringcumulatively at least one of the appearance and behavior of the documenton the electronic device at the area of interest, wherein the cumulativealteration is a function of a variable measure of the user interactionover a range, and accumulates stepwise as the variable measure of theuser interaction grows; and representing the user interaction as amultidimensional vector; wherein altering the appearance of the documentat the area of interest comprises marking a page of the document to bedisplayed on the electronic device with at least one use indicatorsimulating a physical change to the appearance of the document, the atleast one use indicator accumulating based on increasing use of thepage; wherein altering the behavior of the document at the area ofinterest comprises inserting a plurality of detents respectively at aplurality of pages, wherein the detents appear during page flipping ofthe electronic document and comprise a tactile feedback respectivelycorresponding to and implemented at each page of the plurality of pageswhen flipping through the plurality of pages; wherein themultidimensional vector comprises a first variable corresponding to apage number of the page to be displayed on the electronic device, asecond variable corresponding to an amount of time the user has spent onthe page, and at least one other variable corresponding to at least oneof an amount of magnification the user has performed on the page, and anumber of annotations the user placed on the page; wherein the methodfurther comprises mathematically mapping information contained in themultidimensional vector to actual behavior of the page to be displayedon the electronic device; wherein a parameterized physical model is usedto mathematically map the information contained in the multidimensionalvector to the actual behavior of the page to be displayed on theelectronic device; and wherein the parameterized physical modelcomprises a system of virtual elastic springs modeled as a set ofcouplings between virtual components of the document.
 2. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the user interaction comprises at least one of theamount of time the user has spent on the page, a number of times thepage was viewed by the user, the number of annotations the user placedon the page, and the amount of magnification the user has performed onthe page.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the electronic documentcomprises at least one of an electronic book, electronic magazine orelectronic catalog, and the electronic device comprises at least one ofan electronic reader, tablet or smart phone.
 4. The method of claim 1,wherein the at least one use indicator comprises at least one of anelectronic representation of dirt, a smudge, a stain, a hair, a rip, afold, dust, a discolored edge.
 5. The method of claim 1, whereinaltering the behavior of the document at the area of interest comprisesinserting a time delay at the page, wherein the time delay appearsduring the page flipping of the electronic document.
 6. The method ofclaim 1, wherein altering the behavior of the document at the area ofinterest comprises increasing a probability of arriving at the pageafter multiple page flips.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein determiningthe area of interest based on the user interaction comprises accountingfor interactions of more than one user with the document.
 8. The methodof claim 1, wherein elastic coefficients of the couplings are adjustedbased on the user interaction with the document.
 9. The method of claim8, wherein the elastic coefficients decay back to their initial valuesover a predetermined time period.
 10. The method of claim 1, wherein atime delay at the page to be displayed on the electronic device ismapped to the page by multiplying the multidimensional vector by anadjustable scale factor, and the time delay appears during the pageflipping of the electronic document.